This invention relates to fishing lures, and more particularly, to soft bodied fishing lures that float, and to molds for and methods of making floating fishing lures. Floating soft bodied fishing lures have been made by adding to plastic formulations chemicals that produce gas bubbles in the cured plastic. The resulting lures were tough and not natural feeling, and the colors were opaque and difficult to control. Also, air has been incorporated by agitating melted plastic before a lure body is formed, but the size, location and distribution of air bubbles in the lure can not be controlled. Selected areas of prior lures could not be made devoid of bubbles.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide improved fishing lures and improved molds for and methods of making the lures.
Another object is to encapsulate air bubbles in fishing lure bodies without diminishing the transparency or translucency of the plastic from which the lures are made.
An additional object is to provide floating fishing lures that have craters on their exterior surface for holding scenting and taste imparting agents.
Another object is to control the number and location of air bubbles in fishing lures.
An additional object is to provide fishing lures that have air bubbles in preselected locations but have no bubbles in other preselected areas.
A further object is to place differently sized air bubbles in different selected locations in fishing lures.
Another object is to provide methods and molds that can locate air bubbles only in predetermined portions of fishing lures and prevent the bubbles from forming in other predetermined portions of the lures.
A further object is to provide floating plastic fishing lures that are durable, economical, highly attractive to fish, easy to use, and which do not possess defects found in similar prior art lures.
A further object is to control the size of air bubbles in plastic fishing lures.
A further object is to provide improved methods for making the fishing lures described herein.
Another object is to provide porous molds that breathe and control the size and location of air bubbles in plastic fishing lures.
Other objects and advantages of the fishing lures and manufacturing methods and molds incorporating this invention will be found in the specification and claims and the scope of the invention will be set forth in the claims.